Interlude
by mr.rubbish
Summary: Set during Minor Transformation, events from Black Paper's point of view.
1. The Fugitive

**----- Chapter 1 : The Fugitive -----**  
  
His footsteps echoed down the olive-green corridor, his breath laboured and quick, adding to the cacophany and undoing his best efforts to escape. He lurched heavily through two more sets of doors before slowing his pace enough to be able to hear if he was still being pursued. The man nursed his right arm where a deep cut bled steadily, dying his red armour a darker shade of crimson. He held his breath and listened attentatively. Even above the low-level noise of the lower Mine machinery he was still able to pick out the sound of doors opening in the distance.  
  
He cursed loudly and lumbered back into a run. This was supposed to have been a standard ambush, damnit! Since Black Hawk was captured after that traitorous Wayans bitch gave him up everyone in the group had been on edge. Now it was he, Pollo, who found himself on the receiving end of justice. Jumping out to suprised a lone FOrce, he in turn was suprised by the intervention of her teammates. One against four were not odds he enjoyed and so he fled, cover provided by a Garanz summoned duly to protect his retreat. One of them gave chase and despite timely interventions of further Mine robots he was still unable to shake this persistant HUnter.  
  
At one point, once he was sure he had lead him far away enough from his compatriots, Pollo stopped to engage him in combat. Even though he had original registered at the Hunters Guild as a RAmar, Pollo had grown found of his Partisan. He wielded it with considerable skill but could not be bothered to change his class designation to HUmar. His opponent was a HUnewm, quite rare on Pioneer Two, but not unheard of. He predicted the fight would be over quickly and he was not disappointed. He got disarmed, a kick to his stomach and the cut he now carried for his troubles. Not totally without weapons, he carried an Autogun for emergencies but he preferred to save that trump card till the last moment.  
  
Pollo was now coming to the most western-most region of these Mines. The interconnecting rooms and corridors snaked like a labyrinth, everywhere dangerous drops into shafts and caverns below. He was quite familiar with these regions as they all had to learn them in the event that they were being followed. He reached into a pocket of his armour and retrieved a remote control in order to setup a trap for the HUnter behind but his injury caused him to fumble it and it fell to the ground, bits of casing breaking off of it as it bounced towards the edge of the walkway.  
  
"Crap! Clumsy fool!" Pollo exclaimed loudly as he ran past the fallen control.  
  
He came to a stop and jogged wearily back to it. He was starting to wheez with every breath and he felt light-headed, no doubt a result of the gradual blood loss. He retrieved the device from the ground and examined it. It was used to communicate to the Mines central network to have mining robots transported to the current location. It also included a transponder to mask the user from attack by those same robots. The damage on the back did not seem too bad, the circuit boards exposed seemed to be unharmed. Pollo turned it over and was dismayed to note that the power light was now blinking instead of a constant light.  
  
"Shit! I hope the beacon isn't busted or the next set of 'bots will murder me."  
  
"They'll be the least of your concerns." Said a voice behind him.  
  
Pollo turned to face the HUnter once more. Compared to his own rather generous proportions the newman was short but muscular and he held his Cross Scar daggers in a way to indicate he would meant business. Without taking his eyes off Pollo the HUnewm raised his left arm up close to his mouth and activated the radio.  
  
"This is Bravura... Can you guys hear me?"  
  
A reply came through barely comprehensible through the static and interference. "Just about... Where are you?"  
  
"Head straight west." Replied Bravura. "I've dropped message disks."  
  
"Ok... Be there... Couple of Be..." The message ended in a loud crackle.  
  
"You hear that?" Bravura asked him. "My friends will be here soon and then we can have a nice friendly chat about Black Paper."  
  
At the mention of that name Pollo started to take small steps backwards.  
  
"You don't know what you got yourself mixed up in! Just walk away and pretend you lost me. I won't tell anyonnnneee..." That last word hung in the air even as he failed to having forgotten where he was.  
  
The portly RAmar twisted in mid-air in an attempt to catch on to something to stop his fall and was hit in the chest by a support spar. The force of the impact sufficient to knock him back onto a walkway below the one he had just fallen from. He landed face first onto the solid metal surface and curled up into a ball clutching his chest. Bravura could see him through the grille below his feet.  
  
"Don't move!" He called out to Pollo, his voice tinged with concern. "I'm going to find a way down!"  
  
Bravura spotted a structural beam with sufficient hand holds to allow him to scale down the twenty or so metres to where Pollo writhed in agony. Through a curtain of tears Pollo could see that Bravura was never going to give up. He rolled onto his back and straightened up as much as he could bear. Standing was out of the question, his knee had absorbed much of the final impact and would now be unable to support his weight. No options left he began to crawl backwards on his elbows, every movement bringing a gasp of pain to his lips.  
  
Bravura jumped down the remaining distance landing softly and in one slick motion drew out his lethal blades once more. Pollo had stopped trying to escape. By now every breath was shallow, accompanied by gurgling. A cough brought a red stain to his lips. When Bravura realised that his quarry was no longer a threat he deactivated the blades and began to root through his Photon Storage Unit.  
  
"Hang on... I think I have a Trimate in here somewhere..."  
  
Pollo tried to say something but found talking more and more difficult.  
  
"Ah-ha!" Bravura exclaimed and held aloft a small green bottle. "Now I can help you, but you're going to have to help us."  
  
"*Cough*... *Cough*... Can't... They'll kill me..."  
  
"We can protect you. I have powerful friends."  
  
"... You don't know what you're dealing with... *Cough* *Cough* *Cough* ... It goes all the way to the top.."  
  
"Wha..."  
  
Bravura was interrupted by the sound of a photon bullet cutting through the air at high speed before inpacting into flesh. Time seemed to slow down, stretching out the moment from a blink of an eye into an eternity. The ever-present hum of the machinery seemed to fade into silence before finally time caught up, the sound rushing like a tide. Bravura fell face forward crashing onto the metal grating beside Pollo.   
  
Pollo looked down the corridor where the shot had come from. In the distance coming ever closer was a familiar form. The figure slowed to a jog and emerged into the poor light of the room. Dressed in similar attire to himself, this RAmar was tall and athletic and moved with purpose.  
  
"Paper!" Pollo croaked.  
  
"Pollo! Man you look like hell!" The RAmar remarked flippantly.  
  
"Think I punctured lung... *Cough* ... Trimate on floor..."  
  
"It's ok, I've got that taken care of." Said Paper as he bent down to remove an object from Bravura's hand.  
  
"I didn't tell them nothing... You know I wouldn't talk..."  
  
"But we still have a problem. They've seen your face... You've become a liability."  
  
Paper held up the object in his hand so that Pollo could see it clearly. It was not the Trimate he desperately needed but one of Bravura's daggers. Paper gently squeezed the trigger and the bright yellow photon blade flicked back into life. He stepped over Bravura's body towards Pollo.  
  
"Wait! Wait! *Cough* *Cough* *Cough* We can talk.. *Cough* about this... *Cough* *Cough* Wait!...."  
  



	2. Waterfall Tears

**----- Chapter 2 : Waterfall Tears -----**  
  
The high-vaulted room was sparse in decoration. The walls a plain white, the only colour from the windows set on one side, stretching from ceiling to floor. The blackness of space speckled by the faint diamond light of distance stars and the warm blue-green of the planet below. Central to this room was a glass tube that lead from the floor below the glass wall up to a plinth on which a sleek curved white box lay gleaming. Around the plinth were gathered a small group of people. They were dressed in dark or black armour, the Newmen present wore black cloaks to cover their more brightly colour traditional clothing.  
  
At the head of the coffin stood the chaplin dressed in long vestments, black save for some simple lines traced in white upon it. He looked slowly over the assembled mourners before resuming.  
  
"There is no living thing that can descern the length of its life. Man for all his technology and science can know no more than a humble mouse. All one can do is to live each day as the gift that it is. Arno Bravura was born a Newman and knew all too well how precious time could be. Becoming a HUnter, he ventured out to help turn a hostile world into a home for us. Those that had run alongside him have already spoken of his generosity, his selflessness and the many sacrifices he ultimately made for others."  
  
Again he paused briefly, before continuing.  
  
"It was his wish that he be remembered for how he lived, not how he died. He chose to buried in this fashion... To be commited to the stars that we have lived amongst for so long... To become a part of the greater good."  
  
The chaplin bent down and pressed a discrete button hidden on the side of the plinth. The coffin slowly rolled into the mouth of the glass tube ahead. Everybody's eyes turned to follow its progress. Once inside, a set of metal spiral shutters closed behind it and it moved on a conveyor belt gathering speed towards the outer wall.  
  
"From The Light life is granted and through The Light we receive our eternal reward... Peace and happiness. In the next life may The Light shine upon our fallen brother..."  
  
"May The Light bless us all." The congregation solemnly replied in unison.  
  
The coffin, vanished from view at the end of the glass tube and a hush fell over the room. The chaplin made his way to the windows, the people followed behind. When he was sure that they were all ready and watching he pressed a button on a remote control in his pocket.  
  
"Arno Bravura... Take your place among the heavens..."  
  
There was a sound akin to a soft explosion and from just below their field of view flew out the coffin. Clamped onto its rear was a very rudimentary booster system designed to propel it towards the surface of the planet below. It rapidly vanished from view gathering speed all the while. In four Beats it had reached the upper atmosphere. From their vantage point up high they saw a small red dot become ever more brighter, more intense in colour. The dot became a line. The line became a streak, a brief flash and then all was dark once more. It would be a couple more Beats before people started to turn away from the window.  
  
-----  
  
Principal Tyrell waited until after the FOnewearl had finished speaking with the minister before approaching her nervously. Since their arrival at their new home of Ragol he had found himself attending too many funeral services. The loss of life in the past two months was appalling considering that Principal Helter of Pioneer One had assured him personally that Ragol was 'safe'. However, it was not some denizen of Ragol or mindless machine that brought about this tragedy. No, this was a cold act of murder commited by a cancer of the very fabric of society and it was not the first time this had happened either.  
  
"Miranda Fallon... I'm sorry for your loss." He said to her as he offered her a hand.  
  
She eyed his hand before taking it. Her face was blank, devoid of almost all emotion.  
  
"It seem strange that he would want a human funeral." He said hesitantly.  
  
"He wanted it this way. He always said that he didn't care much for death..." She let those words hang in the air and an akward silence developed. Principal Tyrell felt compelled to break it.  
  
"I know this is of small consolation, but investigators are close to determing the identity of Mr. Bravura's killer. Rest assured that when we have found out who it is, the guilty party or parties will be brought to justice."  
  
"I want to do it." Miranda said softly, almost inaudibly.  
  
"Pardon me?"  
  
"I want to do it, I want to bring the son of a bitch to justice." She glared at him and he saw terrible emotion in her eyes but was unable to look away.  
  
"I don't think we could allow such a thi..."  
  
She cut him off.  
  
"You won't be able to stop me." She said coldly.  
  
Principal Tyrell could feel his hair start to stand on end as if there was a huge build-up of static in the room and sweat broke out of every pore on his body. Miranda turned on her heel and walked away to rejoin the other mourners.  
  
-----  
  
Alex Troupe leaned back heavily on the computer bank behind him. It seemed that this day had gone from progressively bad to worse. First he had been dragged in a mission against his will by his friend Sue to retrieve data. Then she had tried to get that jerk Ash to come along. One day he would have to teach that young punk a lesson...  
  
Of course once they hit the mines he had had to be careful about the use of his remote control. Nothing arouses suspicion quite as fast as killer robots that would not attack him, but he found it hard to find a balance. Too many times they found themselves overwhelmed and naturally, orders from on high was that Sue was to be protected at all costs. As expected, he received notification that a potential target was nearby just when things would be getting more dangerous.  
  
Creating a phantom menace, he stashed Sue away in a storeroom with strict instructions to wait for his BEE mail before executing his plan. Distraction out of the way he located his target. The target in question was a HUcast, one who wielded a photon sword with a red casing. Separating the android from his comrades by fair means or foul proved to be time consuming and eventually fruitless. Once they had sustained too many injuries they fled back to the safety of Pioneer Two.  
  
He returned to the storeroom to find wreckage and Sue gone. Using his remote and knowlege of the terrain he took the back way in the hopes of catching up but was interrupted again by a communique from his superior. He was not happy with the fact that Alex had lost the target. When he had explained that his failure was partly because he was babysitting Sue, the boss was even less happy. He had been waiting for the forth coming orders when Sue and another hunter came across him. Given the delicate nature of the situation, Alex had stonewalled her, silence infinitely more acceptable than any lie he might be able to give on the spot. His one bit of good news was that the hunter that accompanied her was powerful enough to ensure her safety and that was all that was important.  
  
They had come and gone almost five Beats ago and he still had not heard back from Black Arm. Alex sighed and shook his head. He just hoped that he was not going to get in trouble over this.  
  



	3. And Justice For All

**----- Chapter 3 : ...And Justice For All -----**  
  
Alex finished off the remnants of the cereal bar he had been snacking on before throwing the wrapper mindlessly on the floor. He checked himself from moving on before picking it up. He would not want to leave any sign that people were here. Here was in fact a geothermal power station, situated deep in the mountains at the far end of an elaborate system of caves. Volcanic rock was close by as was an ancient underground river that flowed to the sea from a lake some three hundred kilometres north-west of here.  
  
The station itself was very open-plan. Co-opting the natural structure of the caves, the engineers of Pioneer One had placed little in the way of floors, walls, doors or ceiling except where they felt was necessary. Security barriers too seemed to be an after-thought, as if the hostile creatures that inhabited these caves were either of little importance or only recently hostile.  
  
Despite the unexplained mass disappearence of the citizens of Pioneer One, the station was fully operation and would only require periodic maintainence. Indeed, the Central Dome and residential areas were more than adequately supplied with electricity even if there was no one to benefit from it. This self-sufficiency was ideal for his organisation, they could come and go freely with little concern for disturbance. Or almost. Every passing week led to more and more hunters traipsing through their domain, the haphazard trail of message disks left by Tyrell's daughter the perfect excuse for exploration. The focus of search efforts was directed at the Mining research facility but it would not be long before the government decided to lock the cave system down permanantly. Corralling the hordes of mutated natives into the facility was all they could do to stop that from happening.  
  
It was warm here, warm enough to make you feel comfortable without inducing sweat. A person could happily spend hundreds of Beats down here, which was exactly what Alex had done. He could feel impatience welling up inside him, but there was more to it than that. The whole 'Sue Incident' had taken place two days ago and since then Alex had tried to keep to himself and avoid her altogether. Outside the shop district in the Hunters Guild he had come across the hunter that had saved her previously. Alex had issued a veiled threat to not get involoved and now he had felt foolish about the whole thing. Firstly, he should not have done anything to draw anymore attention to himself and secondly, this was the hunter that went one-on-one with De Rol Le! Any kind of physical confrontation would definitely end in tears...  
  
The feeling that grew with every passing Beat, gnawing at him, was that he was being abandoned. Persistant BEE messages sent to every contact yielded no response and he had not seen hide nor hair of anyone else in the organisation. Their bases of operation, always transient to avoid detection, now empty. Even here, boxes of equipment and weaponery left lying around as if the owners were in a hurry to leave. He supposed that he could not feel anymore alone than he did now. Or was he? He pricked up his ears at what sounded like voices in the distance amongst the ever present hum of machinery and the gentle whistle of the wind through hollow caverns.  
  
The Hell's Sniper appeared in his hands without a second thought and he hurried to the far end of the room, keeping to the shadows to reduce visibility. The next room was fairly long and packed with computer banks and rocks too large to have been moved. Alex hunkered down behind a solid metal cabinet and brought the scope up to his eye. Entering through the opposite side was a group of eight hunters. The spec of their weapons and the look of them indicated that these people meant business.  
  
"There's someone over there!" A HUmar called out.  
  
The sound startled Alex and he realised that he would have to fight his way out of this one. A hail of photon bullets and fireballs flew past as they bore down on his position. Unconcerned, Alex brought the sight up to his eye and slowly tracked his target. Almost casually he squeezed the trigger. The HUmar who had alerted the others dropped his large sword and stopped his running as his throat exploded into a fine red mist. He brought his hands up to his neck in a vain attempt to staunch the bleeding.  
  
A FOnewearl dressed in black turned to face him and called out his name. "Halfstriker!"  
  
She raised her hands in his direction and concentrated, a green glow began to gather at the wound. A second shot rang out and a neat hole appeared on Halfstriker's chest. He managed to look at it briefly, suprise covering his face before collapsing to the ground. At this the others all dived behind the nearest cover available.  
  
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Shrieked the FOnewearl. The hatred in her words made Alex wonder what he had ever done to her.  
  
"Hmph. Now's a good time to get out of here." He said quietly to himself. There was a transporter rigged up to take him to the mines not far from his current location, he would be safe there.  
  
Scanning the room from side to side informed him that they were rapidly closing in. He half stood and fired again. The shot found its mark, blowing out the knee joint of the troublesome RAcast that had sought to keep him pinned down. It toppled over in a satisfying fashion. He slowly walked backwards, firing once more. This bullet burying itself in the right shoulder of a HUnewearl who had not thought to seek adequate cover. He retrained his sight once more on the black-clad FOnewearl. She was out in the open, arms raised toward the roof, yellow tinged energy pouring upwards. Too late he realised what was about to happen.  
  
A loud explosion filled his ears as white-hot pain coursed through him, his body going rigid. His vision swam through a sea of tears as feeling returned. All he could hear was a continous rumble and the acrid stench of burnt human flesh pervaded his every breath. He realised he had been knocked to the ground by the lightning but had managed to keep hold of his rifle. A blurry dark figure appeared before him and he tried to bring his weapon up to bear. A sound like sheet metal tearing was followed by more agony. Alex felt like his muscles were trying to rip themselves from the bone as he writhed in agony. When it stopped Alex rolled over and blinded tried to crawl away from his tormentor, every movement sending wave after wave of pain through him.  
  
Miranda Fallon looked down impassionately at the form on the ground before her. It looked pitiful until the memory of what this person had done came back and the anger with it. She unleashed a third bolt of lightning into him and then a fourth. A firm hand grabbed her arm and interrupted her mid-stream. She stared into the eyes of its owner, a HUmar called Eventide.  
  
"He's had enough. We need him alive." He said calmly yet with authority.  
  
"He doesn't deserve to live! After all he's done he doesn't deserve to!" Miranda shouted, tears beginning to form in her eyes.  
  
"Enough people have died over this. Killing him won't bring Bravura back."  
  
At the mention of Bravura's name Miranda buried her face in Eventide's chest and began sobbing. He held her tightly until it was time to leave. 


	4. Burnt Paper

**----- Chapter 4 : Burnt Paper -----**  
  
It was warm here, a pleasant kind of warm given the circumstances. Alex sat back on the firm bunk and swung his legs back and forth. Here was a government holding cell, the Hunters Guild lacking such facilites. Quite spacious at three metres by three metres, even if the featureless white walls were a trifle dull. The wall directly opposite was not a wall as such but a transparent energy shield, painful to touch as previous encounters could attest to. A series of dampening fields rounded off the defenses. This would be one prison he would not be escaping from in a hurry.  
  
He held up his heavily bandaged right hand up to his face and stared at it again. It was starting to feel itchy again, though he supposed he should count himself as lucky that they healed most of his wounds at all. The ferocity of the FOnewearl's attacks had served to melt the flesh of his hand to the handle of his rifle. The hunters that had apprehended him tearing it from his grip realising too late that it had become part of him. Or perhaps they knew and did not care, given the terrible things he had done. The next five hundred Beats or so spent unconscious, he awoke here alone to await his fate.  
  
The cells around him appeared to be devoid of occupants, some guards came when he called out but eventually chose to ignore him, retreating out of sight and no doubt out of hearing range too. He grew tired of shouting and retreated back to the bunk. Sleep impossible as his body felt like it had been on the receiving end of a massage from an angry hildebear. It was sometime before the lights in the corridor dimmed to half brightness to indicate the night had arrived, Alex's rumbling stomach a reminder that he had not eaten anything since that snack bar this morning.  
  
He winced as he got back to his feet and hobbled wearily to the barrier.  
  
"Hey! Where's my damn food? I have rights you know!" He shouted out desperately.  
  
He was rewarded by the sound of booted footsteps. A guard approached the cell and looked him up and down.  
  
"Yeah." He sneered. "You have the right to remain silent!" The guard chuckled at this and walked back to where he had come from.  
  
"Hey don't walk away from me! I'm talking to you damnit!" Bellowed Alex thumping the barrier.  
  
*Zzpt*  
  
"Shit!" Cursed Alex nursing his already sore hand.  
  
"Hrrk!" Said the guard in the distance, followed by the sound of a body falling to the floor.  
  
Alex froze. Then he heard all too familiar footsteps coming down the corridor. A tall purple HUcast emerged into view.  
  
"Kireek! Am I glad to see you! Get me outta here."  
  
"Step back." Commanded the android.  
  
Alex obliged, backing up against the bunk and raising an arm to shield his face in the event of some kind of explosion.  
  
"Hmmm." Said kireek raising a hand, palm flat against the barrier.  
  
Alex watched as Kireek slowly pushed his arm through the barrier, stepping through it as a normal person might step through a particularly dense bush.  
  
"That is better." Stated Kireek having passed all the way through.  
  
"Er... Kireek, I thought the objective would be to help me escape."  
  
"That is not the objective. Releasing you would cause further problems."  
  
"So you're just going to leave me to rot in here? Is that it?" Asked Alex in disbelief.  
  
"That is not my objective either."  
  
"So why are you even here then?" He moaned and sat down dejectedly.  
  
"Black Arm is disappointed with you. Your recent failures have put the organisation and future projects at risk and now you have been captured..."  
  
"Look you know me, I'm not going to say anything." Interrupted Alex.  
  
"Perhaps you should not have been caught in the first place." Replied Kireek.  
  
"Yeah, well they seemed to have a bloody good idea as to where to find me." Growled Alex indignantly.  
  
"Yes, then it is unfortunate that someone had informed the authorities of your whereabouts."  
  
"What? What are you talking about you mad robot?"  
  
"Maybe this will explain things..."  
  
There was a hiss of static and then the recorded voice of a mature man could be heard from Kireek's main speaker.  
  
"_Alex... What has happened here is terrible... You were... Like a son to me._" The voice was strained with emotion. "_It seems so many years ago now that you were that fresh-faced youngster, displaying so much talent... And with a dedication to the cause that was second to none. But these are strange times we live now and sacrifices have to be made..._ *Click*"  
  
"He goes on like that for about five more Beats. I figure you will not be wanting to listen to all of it." Said Kireek in a flat tone.  
  
A cold chill shot down Alex's spine.  
  
"Hey! Hey! Wait just a Beat here! I have been nothing but loyal since the very beginning!" Alex protested as he backed up against a wall. "You can't do this to me!"  
  
Kireek held out his arm to one side in a dramatic fashion and his sinister purple scythe materialised out of thin air.  
  
"It is no longer my decision."  
  
Alex slumped towards the ground as he stared as the advancing android, an expression of pure horror on his face.  
  
"Please be aware... This may hurt _alot_." 


End file.
